but the tea party brings energy to the republican party. but the difference is the idea of tactics. it's a very monolithic party. the debt's too high, too much unemployment, smaller government, et cetera. as a minority position, do you shut down the government and compel the other side to action? when we tried that, the american people and even the base saw that the shutdown idea is not going to work. look at what we have done in the first couple months this year. we have achieved a lot of things from the farm bill to the budget deal everything and else. we're on a better path today. >> and a clean path for the midterms. to pick up on what rich was talking about, it does appear that in the key senate races, the senate control is up for grabs in november, that the republican nominees will not be as easy targets as they were in 2010 or 2012. >> darn. darn. yeah. in fact -- first, let me give president obama a little bit of credit. when he stood up to the tea party and said we're not going to do this. he helped to defang the tea party. it helped the republicans and boehner. he's in a s